Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a parliament session in Kabul, Afghanistan.
In this UNTV image, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, President of Afghanistan, speaks in a pre-recorded video message during the 75th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at UN he...
Kabul: A-29 Super Tucano planes are on display during hand over from Resolute Support (RS) to Afghan army at the military Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Afghan acting defense m...
Afghan security personnel and Municipality workers work at the site of an explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. Spokesman for Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said the bombing that targe...
Afghans rescue people after heavy flooding in an area in the Parwan province, Afghanistan. Heavy flooding in northern Afghanistan has killed dozens of people and injured scores of ...
An Afghan woman makes naan bread at her bakery in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Afghan security personnel inspect at the site of explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan.
A car destroyed in an explosion is seen in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani sings the national anthem after laying flowers on the Independence Minaret monument during the Independence Day celebrations at the Defense Ministry i...
An Afghan security personnel stands by the dead body of an insurgent after an attack in the city of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. An Islamic State group attack on the pris...
Afghan enthusiasts wear a protective face mask as they perform yoga to mark International Yoga Day during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan.
People read verses of the Quran in a mosque during Itikaf, the last ten days of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Itikaf is very important for many Musli...
An Afghan security officer carries a baby after gunmen attacked a maternity hospital, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gunmen stormed the hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, se...
A body of a militant killed during an attack lies on the ground at a maternity hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan. Militants stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of Kabul o...
A man cries after an attack in maternity hospital, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gunmen stormed the hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off a shootout with the polic...
Afghan and foreign security personnel stand guard in front of a hospital after gunmen attacked, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Gunmen stormed a maternity hospital in the western part of th...
A health worker checks the temperature of car passengers in an effort to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, as they enter the city in the Paghman district of Kabul, Afghan...
Afghan special forces stand guard at the site of a suicide bomber attack on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. A suicide bomber targeted a base belonging to Afghan special forces...
A damaged vehicle is removed from the site of a bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. Kabul police said a sticky bomb attached to a vehicle detonated in the capital but caused no c...
Muslim men attend prayer despite concerns of the new coronavirus outbreak during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan. Millions of M...
K.P. Nayar spells it out as the prime minister, Manmohan Singh prepares to visit Washington:
Notwithstanding New Delhi’s known opposition to bracketing India along with Pakistan and Afghanistan, there are many policy-makers in the Obama administration who believe that the US cannot win the war in Afghanistan unless they also push for a solution to Kashmir and that the problem of a failing state in Pakistan cannot be adequately addressed unless New Delhi and Islamabad are nudged towards a reconciliation...
...there is lack of comprehension now in New Delhi that the Obama administration intends to eventually legitimize the Taliban: what Washington is looking for is a way to put the best front on that eventuality and justify such an about-turn...
Read the full piece at the Telegraph
C. Raja Mohan adds:
...the cynical view of the prime minister’s visit to Washington is that it will be long on rhetoric but short on substance. But the unfolding developments in Afghanistan and Pakistan are too consequential for the national security of both India and the United States for their leaders to waste the opportunity for thinking at the highest levels about political cooperation on stabilising the north-western parts of the Subcontinent.
Read on at the Indian Express
Golnar Motevalli reports for Reuters:
Afghanistan's only known pig has been locked in a room, away from visitors to Kabul zoo where it normally grazes beside deer and goats, because people are worried it could infect them with the virus popularly known as swine flu.
The pig is a curiosity in Muslim Afghanistan, where pork and pig products are illegal because they are considered irreligious, and has been in quarantine since Sunday after visitors expressed alarm it could spread the new flu strain.
More here
This is perhaps also an opportunity to put in the joke received on SMS today: "They said pigs would fly if a black man became President. Well, swine flu."
